US District Judge Roger Hunt of Nevada ordered Righthaven to explain why he should not thrwo the book at the outfit for trying to “manufacture standing.” Standing is the dodgy legal trick that enabled Righthaven to bring 200-plus lawsuits on behalf of the copyrights owned by news agency Stephens Media of Las Vegas.

According to Wired, Hunt said that Righthaven has made multiple inaccurate and likely dishonest statements to the court. In all the cases Righthaven, which uses a loophole in copyright law to sue blogs and others for infringement, claims ownership of the copyright material even though judge Hunt found that it is not the real owner. The Judge said that Righthaven likely duped other judges to allow lawsuits on behalf of Stephens Media copyrights to go forward.

Righthaven has two weeks to show why it should not be punished for this flagrant misrepresentation to the court.